November 29, 2005 Hi Jack, Yes, also, the Ramazzini Foundation
found evidence that the aspartic acid may the cause of cancers in
"...the renal pelvis and ureter, peripheral nerves and
proliferative changes of the olfactory epithelium..."
in rats fed aspartame, and that females were more vulnerable.

" Moreover, carcinogenic effects for the renal pelvis and ureter,
peripheral nerves and proliferative changes of the olfactory epithelium
were not observed in the long-term bioassays performed
in the same conditions at the CMCRC
on methanol, MTBE or formaldehyde.

To investigate if the other two metabolites of APM are responsible in
inducing these lesions,
it is of paramount importance to perform adequate life-span
carcinogenicity studies on aspartic acid or phenylalanine.

It is worthy of note that,
in a long-term carcinogenicity study on monosodium aspartate (MSA)
administered with drinking water
to groups of 50 male and 50 female Fischer-344 rats
(beginning at 6 weeks of age for 100 weeks and then sacrificed),
a dose-related

- 20 -

hyperplasia of the renal pelvis was observed
in males and in females (Kitahori et al. 1996).

The same effect was found, by the same group of investigators,
in another study in which MSA was administered in drinking water
to groups of male and female Fischer-344 rats
to evaluate its promoting activity of carcinogenesis
of the transitional epithelium of the renal pelvis (Kitamura et al. 1996).

In both studies, clear evidence was provided of a relationship
between MSA treatment and transitional cell hyperplasia.
The authors indicated that calcification could have an important role
in inducing simple and papillary hyperplasia of
the renal pelvis transitional cell epithelium and,
consequently, in the induction of transitional cell tumors.

In our study, performed on 1,800 Sprague-Dawley rats,
which are less susceptible to the spontaneous development
of nephropathies than Fischer rats,
we observed a dose-related, statistically significant increase
in the incidence of dysplastic hyperplasia and carcinoma
of the renal pelvis in females, but none in males,
when compared to the controls.

The fact that we observed an increased incidence of kidney
calcification in females and not in males,
when compared to the controls, gives added weight
to the hypothesis that aspartic acid
may cause preneoplastic and neoplastic lesions of the renal pelvis,
and that calcification may be the mechanism responsible for this effect. "

Thanks. I would guess that if you took more aspartame
than you have in the past, the reaction would be the same
as the one you experience from MSG.
It is my belief that most of the reported reactions to aspartame
are from the aspartic acid content.

I was knocked out about 10 or 20 minutes, running the top of my head into
a pickup truck door edge as I was bicycling to school in the morning --
woke up slowly in the ambulance -- hearing the siren was the first
awareness, then slowly my body. Threw up at a cafeteria in a small
city about noon. In the hospital two weeks,
and had a spinal tap to enhance contrast for a brain X-ray,
recovered at home for about 6 weeks.
For years until about age 14, reading always gave me a headache --
I loved to read.

I get a mild dull headache and fatigue from MSG, and found this spring that
3 packets of Equal, about the same as 6 oz of diet soda, merely caused a
slight tinnitus and mental activation for an hour, similar to black or green
tea, while the conversion to formaldehyde, I think, within ten minutes was
wiping out the rod-shaped bacteria that gave me mild sinusitis
for about 6 weeks -- I could view them in my greenish, bloody snot
at 300X with my microscope -- so that by an hour my sinuses
were clear, only to be fully infected again 12-14 hours later.
The same process happened with an ounce of blackberry brandy,
which provides roughly the same amount of methanol, about 100 mg,
while 3 ounces produced a mild inebriation,
with no symptoms the next morning.

I found your E-mail to be of great interest. You mentioned that you
experienced a severe head injury when you were 10 years of age.

In an informal survey, we have noted that people with severe sensitivity to
MSG, and I assume, aspartame, have experienced head injuries.
For example, in my own case, I have lost consciousness
from such things as a head on auto collision and a severe boat explosion.

Is it possible that we have a permanent injury to our blood brain barrier?
I don't know, and for the present, I am unwilling to have an autopsy.